SHIELD study fails to protect prospects for GlaxoSmithKline's vercirnon
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
On 23 August 2013, GlaxoSmithKline announced that its oral Crohn's disease candidate vercirnon had failed to meet its primary endpoint in SHIELD-1, the first of four Phase III studies investigating the small molecule inhibitor of C-C chemokine receptor type-9 (CCR9) as a treatment for adults with moderate to severe Crohn's disease. The Phase III failure follows the publication of less than convincing Phase II/III study data. While the IBD market may not suffer from the likely loss of vercirnon, the absence of a commercial bridgehead leaves GlaxoSmithKline excluded from the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) area.